Email Tips

Excellent Advice from Jill:

How to Write a Highly Effective Subject Line
By Jill Konrath

If you're like most sellers, you don't pay a lot of attention to the subject lines. They're an afterthought. No big deal, right?

Totally wrong. Your subject line is the most important part of your message. If it's not a good one, your email gets trashed in a nanosecond. In fact, research by ExactTarget (my email newsletter service) show that the average person spends only 2.7 seconds on a message before deciding if they'll delete it, forward it or read it.

Just 2.7 seconds. That's all the time you have to capture a readers attention. That's why your subject line is so darn critical.

First, let's talk about what you don't put in a subject line. In order to avoid auto-deletes, it's imperative for you to:

• Avoid salesy verbiage. Get rid of words like excited, hot new product, free offer or special pricing.

• Avoid info on your company. No one is interested in your new product announcements or company updates except you.
  

• Avoid capital letters. Just the first word should be capped. Otherwise it seems like a headline, not a personal message.

Now, let's talk about what works in your prospecting emails. Here are several options that have proven effective with today's crazy-busy prospects.

• Use a referral. If someone has referred you to this person, put that in your subject line. They'll want to know why. For example, you might write: Terry Jones said to get in touch.

• Ask a quick question. If your prospect feels it's simple and relevant, they'll take a look. Your subject line might read: Quick question re: new client acquisition challenges.

• Tempt with ideas or information. My prospects are always interested in subject lines like this: Idea to reduce your sales cycle time or How XYZ company increased sales to Fortune 500 companies by 127%.

• Mention a trigger event. If something is happening within the company or in their greater business environment that's relevant to your offering, bring that up. For example, if you read about a recent merger, you might write: Impact of XYZ merger on (insert relevant business issue you address.)

Get the picture? To work, your subject lines must focus on something your prospect cares about. If you do that, they'll keep reading.

Here's a major caveat though. When they start reading your message, it needs to deliver exactly what you promised in your subject line.

If you move into salesy mode or talk about your company, you'll trigger your prospect's auto-delete reaction. They can't control it. And you've lost the opportunity to open the conversation.

Hopefully by now you understand just how critical those simple little subject lines are to your sales success. I'd suggest you sit down right now and create 10 new ones you can use in the upcoming weeks.

Finally, start your experiment. See if you can tell which subject lines are most effective with your prospects. Then create variations off the same theme. You'll immediately see the difference in your sale success.

Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers get more prospects in their pipeline, speed up sales cycles and land bigger contracts. She's a frequent speaker at sales conferences. For more fresh sales strategies that work with crazy-busy prospects, visit www.jillkonrath.com.

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Closing Time

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: Salespeople Need to be Great at Closing

Actually, this is true, but not in the sense most people think.

A sale is not a sale until it is brought to a conclusion or closed. Good salespeople know that. Successful salespeople know that closing the sale is not a tactic to trick or maneuver a buyer into a decision. When buyers feel manipulated, they may later cancel the order they felt pressured to place.

Great salespeople know that the best conclusion is getting the buyer to say yes, then following through to see that the buyer is satisfied enough to continue to order again, or to make a referral to someone else who'll buy.

Selling is just finding out what the person wants -- that's the first step. The second step is to help them get it. That's closing the sale -- satisfying the buyer's want.

To close a sale a salesperson must first invest the time to understand exactly what the buyer wants. Second, the salesperson must show how his or her product or service meets that want. If the salesperson really understands the buyer and makes recommendations based on the want, the buyer will close himself or herself as soon as the connection between the want and the product or service is understood.

The close simply becomes pointing out the desired outcome to the buyer. A close is not trying to wrestle with the buyer and pressure him or her into making a purchase he or she may regret later.

Source: Sales author/speaker Terry L. Mayfield

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Why My Business Card says Consultant

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Diagnose Before You Prescribe

Think about the last purchase you made where you felt you had a positive experience with the salesperson. Did the salesperson introduce themselves and immediately tell you what they thought you needed? Or did they ask you questions to better understand your situation and accurately diagnose your needs?

Here is a good way to test yourself to see if you understand your customer's real problems. Think of a specific opportunity you are working on and name two or three challenges that your prospect wants your capabilities to help them resolve. In most cases, this is the easy part.

Now comes the hard part. Ask yourself, "What bad thing will continue to happen if they don't do business with us?" It could be that their revenue won't grow, they will lose market share, miss a goal, etc. Obviously, it varies based on product or service.

But if you can't answer the question, chances are your prospect can't either.

The basic principle here is to diagnose before you prescribe. When you can answer the question, "What bad thing will continue to happen if they don t do business with us? , you are ready to provide your prospect with a recommended solution. Challenge yourself to answer that question for your clients. They will reward you with their business.

Source: Nick Maslanka, a Regional Sales Executive for Sales Performance International

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Gobbledygook

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip:

When presenting a written proposal, always remember your audience. Keep it simple. Eliminate media jargon and acronyms.

Instead, use short simple words and sentences. Include content specific to the customer's industry or vertical market, particularly in the cover letter and executive summary.

Remember that people buy ideas, solutions, and feelings. Data should support that, not the other way around.

Source: Brandeis C. Hall, RAB, BHall@rab.com, (972)753-6786

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How Healthy Are You?

from a sales perspective:

Daily Sales Tip: Get An Annual Checkup

Just as you should regularly go to the doctor for a checkup, you need to get a sales checkup.

You need to see a videotape or listen to a recording of yourself that captures how you look and sound when you pitch. What's good enough for your golf swing goes double for how you make your living.

Even if you saw a tape of yourself 18 months ago, you've changed. And even if it's for the better, you need to know.

Source: Marketing consultant/author Michael Schrage

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No Sleaze Please

from the Real Sales Dog:

Eliminating the Sleaze Factor in Sales

by C.J. Hayden

In her 15-plus years teaching entrepreneurs about sales and marketing, business coach C.J. Hayden has found that many of her clients say the most significant barrier to success is that they simply don't like to sell.

"The roots of this dislike are varied," says Hayden. "Sometimes what gets in the way is fear of rejection, or self-doubt of one's abilities. Other times it's lack of knowledge or inexperience; most of us don't like to do things when we feel we can't do them well. But a theme that rears its ugly head over and over again is this: a belief that sales and marketing is dishonest, manipulative, and sleazy."

"You might expect me to argue that these negative portrayals of marketing are not true," continues Hayden. "But in reality, they often are. Most of us experience on a daily basis inauthentic marketing, manipulative selling, and attempts at persuasion that rub us the wrong way."

"I'm not suggesting that you, the person reading this, are a sleazy salesperson," says Hayden. "In fact, I suspect it's much more likely that you aren't. But it just may be that you need to convince yourself of that truth in order to raise your comfort level about sales and marketing. To that end, I offer the following guidelines."

You are NOT a sleazy salesperson, if:

Continue reading...

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Sales Manager Tips

I've been in management and I've been on the other end too.

Usually I really hated having my boss ride along with me, unless I needed him/her for a specific reason:

Here's why (from RAB.com):

Managing the Sales Call

As a sales manager, there's no better way of coaching than joint sales calls in the field with your sales personnel. However, the big mistake many sales managers make on a joint call is that when the salesperson gets in trouble, the manager takes over the call. This is the worst thing that can happen.

The salesperson learns nothing and many times resents the manager for interfering. In making field sales calls, take the time to properly plan the call. If it is to be a joint presentation with the manager and the salesperson, then plan out what parts of the sales procedure each will cover.

If the objective on the sales call is for the manager to observe the salesperson in a selling situation, then it should be clarified before the call.

The salesperson is to handle the call and accomplish the objective. What typically happens, however, is that the prospect or customer will direct his/her question to the manager instead of the salesperson. When that occurs, the manager should just look to the salesperson to answer the question. Otherwise the manager ends up taking over the call and therefore learns nothing about the salesperson's selling abilities.

Source: Sales consultant/trainer Roy Chitwood

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Trust

Excellent advice from Jill:

How to Make Your Prospects Believe You When They Don't
By Jill Konrath


We were just approaching Des Moines, traveling at 72 miles per hour on I-35 when it hit me. My husband, who was driving, didn't even notice. But for me, the effect was jarring.

"Holy cow!" I exclaimed. (That's really appropriate when you're in Iowa.) I held up Wikibrands , the book I was reading. "Did you know that the Edelman Trust Barometer says that only 8 percent of people trust what companies say about themselves?"

My husband shrugged his shoulders and gave me that "Duh" look. Clearly, wasn't impacting him the way it did me. All I could think about was what salespeople were saying and what their prospects were hearing.

Seller: We offer state-of-the art technology.
Prospect: I don't believe it. And even if it's true, your lead will only last a short time.

Seller: We really care about our customers.
Prospect: That's what they all say before the get the order. Then they ignore you.

Seller: We're #1 in the XYZ Ranking.
Prospect: Statistics can easily lie.

Seller: We offer a unique approach to solving your problems.
Prospect: Sure. You, along with everyone else.

This is serious. 92% of the time you talk about your own company, you're not believable. And they more wonderful things you spout, the more unbelievable you are.

So what's the answer?

Here are three strategies you can use to be more believable.

1. Don't say anything nice about your product/service.
   
   Not one blasted thing, because it only destroys your credibility. Don't pass out any of your "aren't we wonderful" marketing brochures either. They have the same negative impact. This is especially important in your early conversations.
   
   
2. Focus on being helpful in every interaction.
   
   Let your prospect know about the results your other clients have achieved. Talk about their critical business issues. Share ideas, insights and information that you think would be beneficial to them. Ask questions. But most of all, make sure they have no doubts that your intent is to provide value to them.
   
   
3. Be truthful, even when it hurts.
   
   Your product, service or solution is not perfect for everyone. When you're under corporate or self-induced pressure to close more sales, this can be really hard to do. There are times you might even recommend a competitor because it's the right thing to do.

Developing trust is essential. Without it, you don't have a chance to get the business. With it, you'll have an opportunity to grow long-standing, highly profitable relationships. It's worth the effort.


Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies , helps sellers get more prospects in their pipeline, speed up sales cycles and land bigger contracts. She's a frequent speaker at sales conferences. For more fresh sales strategies that work with crazy-busy prospects, visit www.jillkonrath.com.

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Diagnose with these 3 Steps

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: Troubleshooting the Closing Process

When executives contact me for help, the conversation usually starts with, "My sales people can't close! Can you help me?" Rarely does "weak closing" turn out to be the real issue. Closing is merely the final step of the process. If a runner isn't winning races, it's not because he doesn't have the ability to pull down the finish line tape. There is something else in his game that is impacting performance.

Not sure why your team isn't performing as you expect, let's troubleshoot the issue. Two questions for starters...

1. Did you hire the right salesperson for the role? If you aren't getting the performance levels you expect, you may have selected the wrong person to do the job? If you haven't defined your ideal salesperson for the role, this could be your smoking gun!

2. How did you bring the salesperson onto your team? Many companies leave success to chance and don't have an onboarding program in place during which the salesperson learns how to apply their sales skills in your sales role. Without this bridge, you have a high risk of new hire failure.

If you feel you have the right person on your team and have prepared him/her for success...and you still aren't achieving the results, here are some other areas to investigate.

1. Do you have a well-defined Ideal Client Profile? Not every prospect is a match for your offerings. If you don't have a clear definition of your ideal client, your salespeople could be chasing deals that are nothing more than a mirage. If you are a value-provider and the prospect buys cheap, there's little chance of a deal being consummated.

2. Have you documented your Needs Analysis Strategy? Salespeople need your guidance in determining what questions to ask prospects, when to ask them, why they are relevant and where to direct the conversation based on the received responses.

3. Have you set expectations for Pre-Call Research? No one wants to feel like the sales call of the day. Your salespeople need to master the industry, competitors, prospects and the people who affect the buying decision. Remember, companies don't buy anything...people do!

4. Have your salespeople mastered the Two Most Powerful Words in Sales? These aren't trick words. Yet, mastery of them will guarantee that your salespeople sell more than they ever have before. Unfortunately, they never get to say these words to prospects.

Those two words...Synergy and Priority. Synergy is the connection between buyer challenges and supplier capabilities...the solutions to the problems. Priority answers why now? Synergy gets deals into the sales pipeline. Priority gets them to come out the other side. If your seller can't position priority, he/she will be quickly reminded of the old Roach Motel. Deals will come into the funnel, but they'll never come out!

The next time you think that "weak closing" is the reason your team isn't selling, run through these troubleshooting steps to get to the real issues.

Source: Sales management strategist Lee Salz, founder of Sales Architects

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Why You Need to Listen 1st

Short and to the point, an extra dose of Seth Godin this week:

Can't watch your parade if the house is on fire

People are in pain. Often of their own making, they tell themselves a story that obsesses/distracts and compels them. "I'll never get a movie gig again," "I can't believe they didn't like what I offered," "My job is in jeopardy," "Money's too tight to buy all the things I want..." "Does my butt look fat in these shorts?"

You can jump up and down and sing and dance and launch fireworks, but if the consumer's story of pain is vivid enough, you will be ignored. When the house is on fire, all your audience wants is a hose.

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Listen to what's not being Said

from RAB.com:

Uncovering the REAL Reason

As a business owner or sales manager, we constantly hear the same responses from our sales team when they fail to close a deal. Here are some common examples: "The competition bought the business;" "Everything is on hold right now;" "Budgets are frozen;" or the number one response, "Our price was too high."

What's the real reason they turned us down? We'll never really know, unless we ask the right, and sometimes tough, questions up front. The more accurately you identify the issues and the prospect's concerns, the easier it is to qualify the opportunity.

Identifying our prospect's resistance to buy also requires listening between the lines. Not everything said in conversation represents the whole story. Your sales team needs to read body language, eye contact and voice inflection throughout the sales process to identify where their prospect is raising an objection -- even when they don't say it out loud. For example, did they cringe when the salesperson mentioned price, delivery schedule or quantity. When that happened, did the salesperson seize the opportunity to ask direct questions on that issue?

By asking the right questions and "reading" the prospect, salespeople may not always get a "Yes" answer, but at least they'll find out why the prospect said "No' or "Not right now."

Source: Sales consultant Steve Hackett

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An Agenda

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Know Why You Are Calling

Sounds obvious, but we have all been guilty of making a call just because it was on the list, having long since forgotten why we were calling. Or worse, never calling at all because you aren't sure of your reason.

Make it a habit to keep a note with each person's contact information about where you left off in your last contact and what is the appropriate next step.

The most productive calls are about something you know or suppose the other person wants from you, rather than something you want from them.

Source: Business coach C.J. Hayden

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The Real Problem

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: Living with Problems

I'm often asked, "What's the biggest mistake you see salespeople make?" I answer, "Whatever they do to lose the sale!"

Seriously, there is one pattern I've witnessed with clients in my career. They sometimes assume that a customer with a problem is a customer who is committed to acting on the problem.

I tell this story in my seminars to make this point. A client of mine presented a new product to one of his customers and the customer said, "This is great. I can't stand the product we're using. I hate it." The salesperson worked up the sale value and figured he had a pretty good opportunity in front of him. He told his manager of this newfound opportunity and the manager, knowing this customer well, said, "Don't get too excited. The guy you called on has hated the product he uses for 10 years."

One of two things is likely going on:
-- The person who hates the product has no authority to change; or
-- He has no personal motivation to change that overrides his hating the product.

For example, if the new product costs twice as much as the product he hates he might choose to live with the problem and save money. Or, it could be a big hassle to change even to a better performing product and he concludes that right now the better performance is not worth the hassle to get it.

The salesperson's mistake is in thinking that "hates product" equals "committed to change." Fundamental to this story is the salesperson really doesn't know what the problem is.

If you or your salespeople stumble like my client did just remember that it isn't a problem until the customer says it is, and often there's more to the problem that they need to learn. Also, someone has to authorize making a change. The person who hates the product has to live with it if he's not the one authorized.

Source: Marketing consultant Mark Sellers

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Communication

from Pat McGraw:

Chasing Customers Away: Lesson 1 and 2

Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:36 AM PDT

You spend a lot of time, effort and money in order to attract, engage, convert and (hopefully) retain profitable customers – but sometimes little things go unnoticed and they can kill your business.

In the past couple of weeks, here are 2 (with a bonus) examples of how communications from employees can chase customers (prospective and current) away from your business.

Lesson #1
Here’s one example from Jeremiah Owyang:

Jeremiah Owyang – Yesterday 10:14 PM (edited) – Public
I’m getting more out of office messages from folks like this:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“FIRST LAST normally checks this email 1 time daily, at 10amPST/1pmEST.

If you need to get in touch before then or you are having a company
emergency, you will want to send a text message to 123-4567.

If you are canceling or changing a pre-scheduled meeting, please do this now.”

How many of your clients (prospective and current) would become former clients when your employees started leaving messages like this? (Hint: I would be looking for the competition’s number and making them my next call – I pay you to serve me so don’t tell me what to do. And if I have an emergency, I am not sending a text because I want to TALK TO YOU.)

Solution: Provide your employees with acceptable messages and perform periodic checks to ensure that they use them and follow procedures. Yes, it’s babysitting. But the older I get, the more amazed I am to see what some people will use and that the reasoning is “Hey, I’m busy and I want them to know it.”

Wrong. You want them to know you are there. You want them to know that you are easily accessible, ready to solve their problems and exceed their expectations. Grow up and stop playing martyr – we don’t hire or employ martyrs, we hire and employ people dedicated to customer satisfaction.

Lesson #2

I never thought I would become the anal retentive marketer but in the past year I have received way too many emails featuring cute script-like fonts that [a] I can’t read and [b] clearly communicate that the sender is way too focused on being cute vs. being understood.

How would you like to get all my emails in this font?

Solution: Same as lesson #1 – tell everyone that the anything from the company must use specific font(s). Then perform periodic checks.

And while I am thinking about it…

Lesson 2A

Provide standardized templates for email signatures – which prohibit personal affirmations, ‘funny’ jokes and motivational quotes. Focus on the following critical content:

• Name
• Title
• Company Name
• General 800#
• Direct Line
• Cell phone
• Company URL (linked)

Final Take-away

It’s nice that people want to express personal creativity – but the communication is for the benefit of the reader, not the sender. Think of it from their perspective and ask “Do they need to know?”

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Research

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip:

Do your homework and learn all you can about your potential customers before you call on them. If it's a public company, get their annual report (even if you are calling on the local distributor). Get on the Internet, read the local media, read major publications...the more knowledge you have before you get in the door, the better opportunity you have to close the deal.

Source: Brandeis C. Hall, RAB, BHall@rab.com, (972)753-6786)

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Clarify

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: Remember Who You're Talking To

When meeting with a prospective customer, make your conversational tone one of respect. Suppose we carelessly utter to the prospect, "Do you know what I mean?" He or she just heard from us: "How could you possibly disagree?" A more respectful offering is, "I want to be sure I express this properly; so may I clarify?"

How about when the buyer poses the same question to us? Seize the opportunity to clarify the exchange of ideas by responding this way: Look into the buyer's eyes and state inquisitively, "No, I do not quite understand. Could you tell me more?" This may also persuade the customer to state his/her position in a way that might reveal critical motivations.

Source: Sales consultant/trainer Robert Menard

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The Purpose of a Proposal

From Tom Searcy:

Proposals don't sell or close deals, they put on paper what has already been agreed to and answer "how."

Before you send a proposal to someone, ask yourself, "Am I selling the deal with this proposal or am I explaining the details of what has already been agreed to?" If you are selling with it, you are wasting your time. Proposals are not Christmas presents where the recipient opens them to find a surprise.

Secure a verbal agreement on what your company is going to do, as well as the general price range, before you go through the trouble of writing a proposal.

Want to read more about how to land the big sale? Read the Hunting Big Sales Blog.

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Learn A Few

Lessons from former clients:

Daily Sales Tip: Getting Feedback from Former Customers

Getting feedback from defectors is important because of the unique insights it provides.

Your former customers know which areas you need to improve in order to get their business back. And your former customers can also give you very specific reasons why they left -- a view of your business you can't get anywhere else.

Source: Don Peppers, founding partner of Peppers & Rogers Group.

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Training Time?

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: Practice Makes Perfect

Sales managers very often do not get the training they need before becoming a sales manager. Likewise, very few sales managers conduct ongoing training sessions with their sales team.

Selling requires cognitive skills as well as practical skills, which cannot be developed without practice. When was the last time the sales managers at your company conducted sales practice? I have frequently observed sales managers who intend to start a series of sales practice exercises; however, they are dissuaded from this plan by their salespeople who express dislike or discomfort with the idea of practicing.

Top-performing sales forces conduct sales practice on a regular basis. They have a focus on training and developing the skills and process of their team on an ongoing basis. I recommend that all sales managers conduct sales practice on a weekly basis. This will allow them to inspect the quality of presentations, processes, territory management, account management, etc., of each of their salespeople in a safe and nurturing environment.

Practicing one's sales skills in front of a customer is analogous to practicing football during the Super Bowl. Obviously, it is too late to practice when you are in the game.

Source: Sales consultant Gil Cargill

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A few words on Coaching

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: One-Size-Fits-All Coaching

One of the key pitfalls for sales managers is when they take the "one-size-fits-all" approach to coaching.

How many times have we witnessed a sales rep working on auto pilot? This is the rep doing the same sales pitch to each customer and delivering the message in the same way. As coaches, we fail to see when we go into auto pilot, taking the same approach with each rep.

Do you ever find yourself coaching all your reps the same way? Your feedback to each rep is the same? If so, you have fallen into the rut of "one-size-fits-all" coaching.

Coaching differs from training. Training is about having everyone learn the same information or skills. Coaching, on the other hand, is about diagnosing each rep's particular area for improvement. It is about adapting your coaching style to the individual and about developing individualized development plans.

Coaching is a one-to-one sport. It is about growing individuals and helping them to develop their full potential.

Source: Sales coach Steven Rosen

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